When Ronaldinho sent Barcelona on their journey to greatness

At this point in Spanish football history, the ‘big three’ included not only Barcelona and Real Madrid, but Valencia also, who had previously won the Spanish Primera Division the previous campaign in 2004 and in 2002.

Prior to the 2004-05 campaign Barca were arguably the third biggest power in that trio as they had not won the league since before the turn of the Millennium.

The previous season Barcelona finished second under the tutelage of Frank Rijkaard, but the Dutchman would start a revolution at the Camp Nou beginning with a Liga win in 2004-05.

CHANGES

The previous season, Barcelona came under criticism for allowing David Beckham to join Real Madrid while they purchased Ronaldinho from PSG, and even though the critics were proved hilariously wrong, the Blaugrana would not be undone in the transfer market two years in a row.

In a bid to get back to winning trophies, they brought in two prolific goalscorers in Samuel Eto’o and Henrik Larsson, as well as Ludovic Giuly and Brazilians Edmilson and Juliano Belletti. In the overall arc of Barca’s history, however, the most important debut came in the form of young La Masia graduate, Andres Iniesta.

Real Madrid witnessed a managerial merry-go-round with no less than three head coaches taking the reigns. Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariano Garcia Remon, and Vanderlei Luxemburgo all had a go, with the Brazilian making it into next season, but success evaded them. However, their playing staff was boosted with the arrival of mercurial Englishman Michael Owen, his compatriot Jonathan Woodgate, and bustling centre-back Walter Samuel.

Lionel Messi, meanwhile, made his competitive debut at Barca.

Champions, Valencia, blew most of their budget on Stefano Fiore from Lazio as their influential manager, Rafa Benitez, left for Liverpool.

SUMMARY

Barcelona got their season off to a flyer as two of their new signings, Giuly and Eto’o, netted in a 2-0 victory away at Racing Santander. Rijkaard’s men only dropped points in one out…

Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/when-ronaldinho-sent-barcelona-on-their-journey-to-greatness-la-liga-in-2004-05/80

Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)

Publish date : 2024-07-26 11:00:00

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